Chapter 83: The Wood System

Even though he got chewed out for showing off, the power solution Zou Guoqing finally put forward was still burning firewood... and it could only be firewood. No way around it — Tainan doesn't produce coal, and the nearest coal mines are in the primeval forests of Taipei and Keelung. Probably only cost a thousand lives to dig it out.

The oil in Miaoli hasn't even begun to materialize, and coal from Fujian and Guangdong is even more out of the question — all of it's beyond their reach. So for now, they could only burn firewood. Fortunately, the Transmigrators' old home had advanced technology; even burning firewood could be done with flair. This setup, which Zou Guoqing named the "Wood System," actually had real potential.

The core of the system was a biomass pellet machine and a boiler. So-called biomass pellets meant gathering up agricultural and forestry offcuts — straw, rice stalks, peanut shells, corn stalks, and the like — and then processing that stuff into pellets using a method akin to extruding ground meat filling. Because the extrusion process generated high temperatures, the moisture content of the finished pellets could be adjusted to under 8%, which fully met the requirements for use as fuel.

One kilogram of biomass pellets had a calorific value of around 3,500 kilojoules, but the Transmigrators were using an even more high-end material — raw logs. The Jianan Plain currently had no rice straw or corn stalks to be found; it was so poor that only raw logs remained. Unwashed raw coal had a calorific value of 5,000 kilojoules, while raw-log pellets could reach 4,500 kilojoules.

Zou Guoqing's plan was this: the "Wood System" would sit at the center, with various kilns connected in parallel around it, all sharing the boiler's waste heat, steam, and electricity. In the future, as more industrial buildings were added, the "Wood System" would climb through the network like a spider mother, saving the maximum amount of piping and cable.

"This concept of yours isn't hard to plan out, but the question is, how much 'import goods' will all this equipment take?" After hearing Zou Guoqing's plan, Chen Dong didn't care about anything else — he only cared about the Treasure Box volume these devices would occupy.

Zou Guoqing coughed once and held out his hand, ready to count it out on his fingers for everyone. But at that moment, he suddenly felt a cluster of cold gazes shooting his way. He looked up — it seemed everyone present, except the engineering dogs and CEO Xia, was now giving him a chilly sidelong glare.

Let's see who dares ignore me now! "Heh heh," the man laughed heartily and, utterly unbothered, began counting on his fingers: "We're burning thick, sturdy raw logs, so the crusher, pellet machine, and boiler are the core trio. Then the boiler absolutely has to connect to a generator. Hmm, we'll definitely need a timber yard — aren't we putting up buildings? Shears, sawing machines, motors — let's keep it simple and start with two sets. Finally, we'll add some brick-making machines, pipes, cables, valves, conveyor belts, and various fittings. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, alright, roughly this number should do it!"

Having finished his calculations, Zou Guoqing smiled and gestured a number famously associated with the War of Resistance.

"Eight boxes?!"

"Tch..." The crowd began jeering the moment they saw the hand sign.

Even Xia Xianze couldn't hold back: "Do you know how many boxes of 'stock' we have in total right now?" The so-called "stock" was actually the Transmigration Count that Cao Chuan had in reserve. The Transmigrators would provide a goods list, and Cao Chuan would return to the later era to source the items. If the materials were readily available, he could make a round trip in just a few minutes.

"Twelve boxes." Like every Transmigrator, Zou Guoqing was counting the reserves on his fingers every day.

"Two boxes are always untouchable — that's the emergency reserve. Once your order for eight boxes of goods goes out, all the other departments combined will have to share two boxes. Don't you think that's a bit much?" Xia Xianze, who agonized over the rational allocation of resources every day, said with a furrowed brow.

Zou Guoqing's already prominent forehead gleamed at that moment. He swept a glance over the losers surrounding him — seven indignant, eight defiant — and revealed a smile that said, "I just love that you can't stand me but can't do a thing about it." Then, with righteous confidence, he said to Xia Xianze: "Would you dare remove the valve from your home's gas line? Industry is one interlocking ring after another. Hmph, don't blame me for not warning you — of all this equipment, not a single screw can be omitted. If the whole thing grinds to a halt or, say, explodes, the Industrial Department is not taking the blame!"

Just as everyone was dumbfounded by this stingy, overbearing attitude, Zou Guoqing suddenly recalled something else and patted his own protruding forehead: "Gas — ah, right, gas! Wood gas is also very important for firing kilns. Hmm, we'll need to get a couple of gasifiers, and add a few more pipes..."

The happily anticipated industrial base scouting trip ended in an unhappy parting of ways. On the way back, the entire procession stretched out in a two-kilometer-long formation of diverging paths. The normally taciturn engineering dogs, clustered cheerfully around Zou Guoqing at the very rear, chatted and laughed with one another, utterly delighted.

That afternoon, as expected, Zou Guoqing's remarks triggered a fierce backlash. Military personnel quickly drew on Zou Guoqing's line of thinking and shouted slogans like: "Without a divine artifact to safeguard the home, everyone is perched on a pile of eggs" — the kind of fear-mongering slogan commonly used by health-supplement companies. For a time, every department followed suit. Even Master Miaoshu was fishing in troubled waters: "If a man doesn't clean his teeth, he'll be finished in three years" — he wanted to get a full set of dental equipment to earn money from the natives.

The Governor's Office in Dayuan bustled with people coming and going, each face wearing a grave expression, as if the Transmigration Company were about to go bankrupt the very next moment.

After witnessing this chaos, Xia Xianze lowered his head, clasped his hands behind his back, and paced a few circles around the drill ground in the middle of Shang Hall. Then, moving swiftly, he beckoned two idle men over. Mysteriously, they found an empty room, went inside, and the three of them shut the door and sat down.

Liang Yuhang and Tao Zheng were both slightly flattered and a bit overwhelmed. Before crossing over, Liang Yuhang had been hustling communications equipment in Nigeria, also taking on various wired and wireless engineering projects. He carried seven or eight boxes of business cards from major communications companies — both state-branded and knockoff goods — and played to his audience. After crossing over, he had nothing to do — everyone had their own standalone laptop, and the most advanced communication device was the walkie-talkie. There was no place where his skills were needed; he was purely an idle man.

Tao Zheng was no different. This former auto repairman had already forgotten how to fix cars. Now he was still drifting along in the Navy, just sending a telegram every day and then using the vehicle-mounted radio to harass people everywhere — bored out of his mind.

Today, people from n-number of departments had all shouted slogans to defend the fruits of their labor, but the two of them could only squat on the sidelines and watch the excitement. No way around it — telecommunications was just as overlooked. They couldn't exactly go around shouting, "Without smartphones, three turns into an imbecile," could they?

So when these two were mysteriously ushered into the room by the CEO, their hearts were still quite uneasy. If not for the fact that Xia was already past forty, old and frail, these two might have let their imaginations run even wilder.

Once seated, Xia Xianze skipped the pleasantries and stared straight at Liang Yuhang, asking: "Right here in this area, including the future Chikan and Kiln Area Base — if we could set up a wireless network and use cell phones everywhere, what equipment would we need?"

"Boss, you've finally grasped the crux of the current problem!" Liang Yuhang's eyes lit up. He first delivered a bit of flattery that wasn't really flattery, then began his introduction: "Mm, range is no problem — a single GSM setup theoretically covers 35 kilometers. As for equipment, first you'd need an MSC/VLR, a BSC, and also..."